


Drink About It

by TooGoodToBeBad



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Blue Lions Students (Fire Emblem)-centric, Drunken Confessions, Drunkenness, F/M, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25843324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooGoodToBeBad/pseuds/TooGoodToBeBad
Summary: Sylvain, Felix, and Ashe get wasted, and Ingrid, Annette, Mercedes, and Dedue try to put them to bed.But Drunk Sylvain talks a lot. Drunk Felix does not.
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 14
Kudos: 119





	Drink About It

On Annette’s list of “things that could totally go wrong once we reclaim Fhirdiad and save the Kingdom,” the situation she now found herself was probably dead last. Heck, until a few minutes ago, it probably wasn’t even on the list. She hesitantly allowed herself to let her guard down; it had been a few days since the battle and nothing bad had happened, so she (and probably every other Blue Lion) thought they could use this time for some much needed rest and relaxation. Unfortunately, some people had a very different definition of “rest and relaxation.” By some people, she meant Sylvain, along with whoever he could rope into his dumb shenanigans. Tonight, that meant Felix and Ashe.

“How’d they even get this drunk?” she asked, her bright blue eyes wide in disbelief. The faint smell of alcohol permeated the air, and she tried pinching her nose to avoid breathing it in.

Ingrid only sighed beside her and brushed a loose strand of blonde hair out of her face. “Sylvain asked His Highness if he could raid the palace bar tonight, and Dimitri, Goddess bless his heart, is _such_ an idiot sometimes. Really, I don’t know what he thought would happen! Especially once they got their hands on the real fancy stuff.”

Annette only nodded at that and studied the scene before her. Sylvain, Felix, and Ashe were all seated at a small table, with three ornately decorated drinking cups tipped over, whatever contents they once had either spilled out or entirely consumed. Felix was slumped over the back of his chair and staring at the ceiling, Sylvain was leaning forward and pressing his face against the tabletop, and his fiery red hair resembled a fancy tabletop decoration. Ashe was slouching so much he looked like he would slide off the chair any moment. Thankfully no one had puked yet, and from the smell of things, no one had soiled themselves either.

“Oh dear, this is going to be a problem,” Mercedes giggled as she joined them. 

Annette turned to Ingrid. “Where are the servants? Maybe we can ask for their help.”

“I sent them away.”

“I’m sorry, you _what_?! Why would you do that?” Annette asked incredulously.

“Annette?” Sylvain groaned, not lifting his face from the table. “Annette, is that you? Felix, Annette’s here!”

“No she’s not,” Felix grumbled, still staring emptily at the ceiling. “I can’t see her, you moron.”

Sylvain slowly sat up in his chair, and though his gaze was wildly unfocused and his head lolled from side to side as if it was too heavy for his neck, he recognized the women in front of him. “Felix, I-I-I told you. She’s _heeerrreee_ , with Mercedes and Ingrid! Hi Ingrid!”

Ingrid only rubbed her temples in exasperation, trying desperately to push away a headache she knew was coming on. “Sylvain, please shut up.”

He didn’t seem to hear, and he jerked his head to the left, towards Ashe. “Ashe, are you alive? Ashe? _Kick me in the nards with a pegasus_ , we killed Ashe! Felix!”

“Sylvain,” Ingrid hissed loudly. “Please, shut the hell up! You’ll wake up all of Fhirdiad!”

Mercedes gingerly approached the archer, who hadn’t made a sound at all since their arrival. “He’s asleep, I think? He’s definitely breathing. But how are we supposed to get him back to his room? Or any of them, for that matter?”

“Maybe Felix and Sylvain can be made to walk with a little support,” Ingrid suggested. “For Ashe, I’m not sure. He’s pretty much dead weight at this point if we don’t wanna wake him.”

“Maybe we could call Dedue!” Annette said excitedly. 

“I am already here,” a stoic voice called out from behind them. 

“Dedue!” Annette nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of his voice. “What brings you here?”

“I heard shouting.”

“I hope we didn’t disturb you!” Mercedes called out cheerily.

He shook his head. “Not at all. His Highness told me to relax, so I was only wandering the halls. Please, allow me to assist you.”

“Thank you, Dedue,” Ingrid smiled. “Could you please carry Ashe?”

He nodded at that and walked over to where Ashe was slumped in his chair. Without exerting much effort, Dedue picked him up from his chair and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. 

“That settles that, I guess,” Ingrid shrugged. “Mercedes, do you think you could support Sylvain?”

“I suppose I could try,” Mercedes nodded and tapped Sylvain on the shoulder. “Sylvain, do you think you can stand?”

Sylvain only nodded and groggily made his way to his feet with the grace of a two-legged horse, and Mercedes quickly wrapped his arm around her shoulder so he could lean on her. He suddenly lurched forward and nearly sent the two of them toppling towards the cold floor. “I think I might be sick,” he mumbled.

“Gee, you think?” Ingrid huffed in exasperation as she helped Felix to his feet. Thankfully, Felix was a bit more cooperative, and he allowed himself to be led away. “Annette,” she added, “could you walk with Dedue, make sure Ashe doesn’t bump his head on anything?”

Annette only nodded and made her way to Dedue’s side, thankful that she had a relatively easy task compared to the challenge of trying to get Sylvain and Felix to their rooms. With everyone (except for Ashe) now on their feet, they began the long trek back.

“Felix,” Sylvain slurred after a couple minutes of silence (a silence which everyone was thankful for). “What was that… what were we saying a while back?” 

Felix only mumbled something under his breath, but if Annette had to guess, it was probably some variation of “shut up, Sylvain.” 

Sylvain, either drunk enough to make sense of Felix’s response or drunk enough not to hear it, rambled on. “It was after you were talking about Annette, I think.”

And just like that, the whole group stopped. Even Dedue raised a curious eyebrow. Annette felt her heart beat just a little faster and her cheeks began to flush. She quickly made her way to Sylvain, who was still leaning groggily on Mercedes. “What did Felix say about me?”

Sylvain flashed her a lopsided grin. “Oh not much; Felix isn’t really one for flowery words. But nothing bad, I can assure you! All chaste and decent. Really, you’d think he was Ashe or something.”

Annette could hear Ingrid let out an exhausted sigh. “Annette, please do not humor him, or we’ll never get him to shut up.”

Annette brushed off her words, her curiosity getting the better of her. “What do you mean, Sylvain?”

“Annette!” Ingrid hissed.

“Well, actually, I’m all sorts of interested now, if I’m being honest,” Mercedes chimed in while still trying to keep Sylvain on his feet.

“Fine,” Ingrid relented. “As long as everything stays between us, and we keep on walking.”

“I will be certain not to mention anything to the Professor or His Highness,” Dedue nodded. 

Annette clapped her hands at that and started walking alongside Mercedes. “So, Sylvain, what did you mean a while ago?”

He let out a little giggle. “So you know how Ashe is like... Ashe? Anyway, I was telling Felix that Ashe had never even seen a ti-”

“No! Not that! The part about me! What did Felix say about me?”

Sylvain blinked slowly at her words before staring at her blankly. “I, uhh, I don’t remember, I think.”

Annette only rolled her eyes at that while Mercedes laughed daintily at her frustration. “Don’t worry, Annie! You can always ask Felix tomorrow!”

“I doubt he’ll even remember, Mercie! And even if he did, Felix never talks about his emotions. He’d never tell me anything.”

“But I think he likes you,” Ingrid chimed in from ahead of them. “He’s probably at his best when you’re around.”

“Ingrid!” Annette groaned. “There’s no way that’s true.”

“Oh but it is,” Sylvain chuckled drunkenly. “He’s never mean to you, and I saw him yell at Mercedes! One time he sneered at a kid - the poor fellow ran off crying. I keep telling him to talk to you more, but he’s such a horse’s ass about these things.”

Annette now felt all warm and fuzzy inside as she tried to make sense of everything. Could Felix actually…? There was almost no way that was true. After all, it wasn’t like Felix’s two closest friends knew anything about his life.

That whole incident where she found him hiding in the greenhouse and he pleaded with her to sing for him would’ve raised more than a few eyebrows, but Annette had already written it off as Felix just being shy and not knowing how to express that he, the moody and grumpy swordsman, had a soft spot for songs about libraries and swamp beasties. Despite how flustered she was that day, she didn’t see anything more to it because Felix was, well, _Felix_. 

“Hey, Mercedes,” Sylvain drawled out. “Sorry, I’m feeling kinda hot right now.”

“Ohh, Sylvain!” Mercedes cried out with feigned shock. “You are in no state right now to be flirting!”

“Flirt-no, I’m not… I feel warm.”

“Ohh! It’s because you’re drunk, Sylvain.”

“Ahh,” he mumbled. “That must be it. Besides, I’m trying to stop flirting. I’m trying to prove to Ingrid I can be serious.”

And just like that, the whole group stopped again. 

With a wicked grin, Mercedes turned her head towards him. “What do you mean, Sylvain?”

His head bobbed up and down in an intoxicated nod. “If I try anything right now, she’ll just think I’m flirting for fun. So I said to myself I’d slow down and prove I can be serious for her. She’s so wonderful, Mercedes! So brave and strong and fearless! None of my tricks will work on her if I want to win her heart. And I don’t want to use any tricks. I want to be serious for her. I just haven’t worked up the courage yet. She’s my best friend! I want to make sure I get this right. I just hope she’s willing to give me a chance.” 

From where she stood, Annette could see Ingrid’s shoulders tense and her grip on Felix tighten. While Ingrid had her back to Mercedes and Sylvain, Annette could already see the expression on her face, with the deep frown and the creased brow. Everyone knew Sylvain was prone to saying dumb stuff like this (although he was usually completely sober while saying it), so Ingrid was probably going to brush it off, chalk it off as the usual Sylvain drivel, and-

“Sylvain, please shut up.” 

_Uh oh_ , Annette thought. _Her voice is shaking_.

“Oh, Ingrid! Weren’t you just telling me the other day that-”

“Mercedes, you know I love you, but please, shut up as well.”

The fair-haired priestess tee-heed at her words but nodded solemnly. Despite that, her blue eyes still glimmered with mischief, and if Annette knew anything about her friend, she’d probably bring it up again with Ingrid some other time. Maybe when there weren’t so many flat out wasted people around to distract from the conversation.

There was a light pitter-patter as Annette made her way to Ingrid’s side and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “So, Sylvain?”

Ingrid only rolled her eyes at that and let out a playful scoff. “Don’t get the wrong idea. What I said to Mercedes was that things were a little complicated-”

“Nuh uh!” Mercedes called out from behind them. “That is not what you said at all. What you said was-”

“I know what I said!” Ingrid was now openly blushing. “We’ve been spending a lot of time together lately, and I noticed a lot of things that I guess I’d always seen but never really thought about. Something was different, and I felt it. Next thing I know, we’re both so tongue-tied around each other.”

“Doesn’t sound so complicated to me, Ingrid,” Annette beamed. “What’s the issue?”

“I always knew in the back of my mind that it’d never be me. We’ve been friends forever, you know? He’s always been nice to me, but that’s because we’ve known each other for so long. I never thought...” her voice trailed off.

Annette gave Ingrid another reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. “Well, you heard what he said.”

The corners of Ingrid’s mouth turned down in a tiny frown. “He’s drunk, Annette.”

“I do not wish to speak out of turn,” Dedue called out, not having broken a sweat despite having carried Ashe all this way, “but in Duscur, we had a saying. When translated, it says ‘the drunk man says what the sober man feels.’ I found it most applicable for tonight’s turn of events.”

“That is so poetic!” Mercedes agreed. “I’ll have to steal that line sometime, if you’ll allow it, Dedue.”

He nodded, and he gave an amused smile. “I will allow it.”

“Thank you, Dedue. It would seem you are a lot softer on the inside than you look,” Ingrid chuckled, seemingly amused by the concept of Dedue giving love advice.

“Ingrid, if both of you feel that way, maybe you should give it a chance. I really do think Sylvain will treat you right,” Annette said softly. “If you’re both willing to give it a shot, then-”

“Oh Annie!” Mercedes giggled. “You should take your own advice with Felix!” 

Her face burned at her friend’s words. “T-that’s different!” she stammered.

“How so?” Ingrid winked, the tiredness seemingly vanishing from her green eyes. “If both of you feel that way-”

“Shut up, Ingrid!”

“I do not wish to speak out of turn a second time, but I fear that if you keep this up, you will wake Ashe up,” Dedue interrupted. “Besides, the rooms are just up ahead.” 

“Of course. Our apologies, Dedue,” Mercedes hummed, while Annette shot daggers at her and Ingrid.

“Do not worry about it. Please, do go on ahead. I will just put Ashe to bed and then retire to my own quarters. Tonight has been a long night.”

“Thank you for your help, Dedue,” Ingrid smiled at him. 

“Without you, this would have been so much more difficult,” Annette added cheerily.

“It was no problem,” he bowed as much as he could with Ashe still on his shoulders. “And as per our agreement awhile ago, I will not breathe a word of this to anyone.”

“Good night, Dedue!” Mercedes called out brightly as the large man disappeared into Ashe’s room. He paused at that and turned one more time. “I suppose it has been a good night. Ingrid. Annette. Mercedes,” he lingered on that last word before giving them one more smile and shutting the door behind him.

“We should hurry,” Ingrid broke the silence. “I think Felix is starting to drool on me.”

Felix’s room was just up ahead, and Sylvain’s was right next to it. Ingrid led them to a stately wooden door adorned with the symbol of the Crest of Fraldarius. Annette opened the door, and she and Ingrid made their way inside. Together they got Felix to sit on the edge of his bed while he mumbled unintelligible words. 

“Felix,” Ingrid said and crouched down to his level. “You’re going to sleep this off, okay? Lie down.”

The swordsman nodded dumbly and flopped onto the mattress with a thud.

“Well, that’s that, I guess,” Ingrid sighed. The sound of a loud thud from outside and a loud “eep!” from Mercedes caused Ingrid and Annette to jerk their heads towards the door. The priestess stuck her head through and gave them a sheepish smile. “Ingrid, I could use your help. Sylvain has fallen down.”

Ingrid swore under her breath. “Sure, Mercedes. I’ll be right there. Annette, could you watch over Felix until I get back? Make sure he doesn’t die or anything?”

"But what if he vomits or something?" she protested weakly.

"I guess you'll just have to rip his clothes off, then!" Mercedes called out from the door.

"Mercie!" she wailed out as Ingrid laughed and pushed a giggling Mercedes out of the doorway.

"I'll be back soon," Ingrid called out before shutting the door behind her. 

Annette grumbled and took a seat on a chair while Ingrid headed out to try and pick Sylvain up off the floor. In the peaceful silence of the night, she allowed her thoughts to wander back to Sylvain’s words earlier. Why would Felix be talking about her? It couldn’t have been about _her songs_ , could it? What else did Felix have to say? 

Her reverie was interrupted by the sight of Felix shooting up from bed, and she nearly screamed her lungs out. Thankfully she did not, but she was startled enough to let out a little yelp.

“Where’s Ingrid?” he mumbled, his voice gravelly and parched. “Ingrid, I need water.”

“Water!” Annette squeaked and raced out of her chair to the low table at the foot of the bed. There was a little pitcher of water as well as a drinking cup, which she quickly filled up before giving it to Felix.

He took the cup with shaky hands and drank greedily before dropping it to the ground unceremoniously. He looked at her blankly. “You’re not Ingrid.”

“Nope, I’m Annette. Ingrid will be back soon, so you should go lie down again.”

He wheezed in what could have been a drunk laugh, but Annette wasn’t too sure. “You’re not Annette.”

She bristled at that, unsure of why drunk Felix was getting under her skin. “Felix, look at me. I’m Annette.”

He looked at her with bleary eyes. “You may be as pretty as Annette, but she would never be in my room,” he muttered before collapsing back onto the mattress. “Ugh, what am I saying?”

The drunk man says what the sober man feels.

That warm and fuzzy feeling was sneaking back in, and despite herself, she blushed at his words. “What _are_ you saying, Felix?”

“What am I saying? No one is prettier than Annette. You don’t know who I’m talking about, but she’s got these… blue eyes. They’re so full of life and hope. I’d hate to say no when it comes to those beautiful blue eyes.”

“Felix,” she said softly.

“She’s got the loveliest voice, too. Sings all sorts of stuff. It’s so silly, but… I’m a captive. Her captive.”

“Is this what you told Sylvain?”

“No, her songs are our secret. Just for me.”

She stared at him wide-eyed and tried not to let her jaw fall onto the floor. The heat was now coursing through her veins, and her heart beat like a drum within her ribcage.

“I get so stupid around her,” Felix mumbled. “But maybe one day…”

“What do you mean by that, Felix?” her voice caught in her throat.

“One day…” his voice trailed off and his words disappeared into the silence of the night, only to be replaced by the faint sound of snoring.

Ingrid returned shortly after and insisted that Annette went to bed.

Sleep did not come for her as easily as it did for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Drunk Sylvain is a chatterbox because of course he is. Ashe is a total lightweight because of course he is. 
> 
> Feedback and comments are appreciated! I feel like I struggle a bit with endings, so if it feels weird, then that's on me.


End file.
